for mitt romney last night, he's been trailing slightly in the polls in many of those states, so it was very important for him to have a strong showing and it appears he delivered. [ cheers and applause ] >>reporter: the candidates were cordial, but mitt romney's aggressive approach appear today put president obama on defense. >> going forward with the status quo is not going to cut it for the american people who are struggling today. >> when i walked into the oval office, i had more than a trillion dollar deficit greeting me and we know where it came from. >>reporter: the debate held at the university of denver was respectful and devoid of any major entertaining moments. it focused on dense domestic issues like taxes, social security and medicare and the role of the federal government. the president said romney's ideas are not specific enough. >> his running mate, congressman ryan put forward a budget that reflects many of the principles that governor romney has talked about, and it wasn't very detailed. this seems to be a trend. >>reporter: and romney repeatedly accused the president